The race between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama is now coming to an end.

Both candidates are effectively tied as election nears and it is crucial to remind us why Obama should be re-elected next Tuesday. I want to be clear with my America friends: Europe needs a strong and responsible America and only Barack Obama can build this America. A Romney Presidency will ratchet up international tensions. In his electoral speeches, Romney is using assertive concepts such as “geopolitical enemies” and “confrontation”. We have already seen the deleterious effects of this confrontational policy during the years of George W. Bush.

Obama deserves a victory not only because Romney is worse than him. Obama has been working well during these years. After the disaster provoked by former US president, George W. Bush, Obama has finally restored the US credibility in the international arena by easing tension in the Arab world.

Obama has become President in the middle of the worst financial crisis since 1929 but he has succeeded in paving the way to restoring America’s competitiveness: the economy grew by an annual rate of 2 per cent in the third quarter of 2012 , according to government figures, last month US unemployment fell from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent, its lowest since Mr Obama took office in January 2009.

Mr. Obama is the only one to have fought to reduce income, gender and race inequalities and who has included fairness in the heart of US policy. Europe will benefit from Obama’s victory next week. We have to stand united behind him.